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Chapter Two
Before Ravaphine can answer, Brimea and Seirixori vanish into thin air and a silver dragonborn in chainmail and a half-elf playing a lute appear in the basement. The dragonborn slowly lowers his hands from their previous clasped moon-prayer position and tilts his silver-scaled head to one side as he regards the room. "Curious..." he whispers with only the barest hint of an ever-present growl. The lute player stops mid-strum and looks around the room. "What--?" His blonde hair is cut to his jaw and he wears a goatee and leather armor, finished with a dashing blue cape. Nera jumps back, startled by the new appearances. "What--what happened? Where's Brimea and Seir?" She approaches Ravaphine and points at her accusingly. "What did you do?!" Urrak is surprised to the point of shell shock at this point, offering a meek greeting. "W...Well met. Welcome to...this basement" The voice from earlier rings out, "What do you mean welcome? This is MY basement, you overgrown cabbage!" Ravaphine hides the rod behind her and asks, "Who are you and who is this?" while pointing to the body on the ground. "Oh dear..." the dragonborn quickly kneels before the body and gives it a look-over, sparing only a side-acknowledgment of the unusual rod and the disembodied voice. "All we did was put out a very large, possi'bly magic fire! And...fiddle a bit with this rod contraption." “Why are you in my house? Dear gods, is that a body? IS THAT MY BODY? Oh nononononononono… what happened? MY QUANTUMRIFTSHIFTSLIPSTREAMTELETRANSMITTER! Wait, why can’t I— ” It takes a few more moments before everyone is aware that the voice is coming from the rod itself. "Are--are you dead?" Nera waves a hand in front of the rod. "How can you see anything in there?" The voice continues, "Do I look dea--- never mind, clearly I do. Something about the explosion must have... shifted my consciousness into the control rod." “The damn thing's haunted too?” Urrak asks. Ravaphine hands the rod to Urrak. "What the fuck?" "A-and what makes y' think I want to hold this...this...thing" "Hey! Gentle! That's me you're manhandling about!" "Why are we all here? What were you doing last before the fire?" Ravaphine asks. "I'll hold it then!" Nera says, and snatches the rod from Urrak. "Can't trust an orc with anything," she grumbles under her breath. "Ha! Too true. I like you, halfling," the rod says merrily. Urrak grumbles and folds her arms. "I was so close to perfecting the Quantum Riftshift Slipstream Teletransmitter and now look at it. Well.. you'll just have to help me fix it, yes? I'm sure at least one of you is bright enough to follow directions, right? Wait, you never answered me. Why are you in my house?" Nera immediately points at Ravaphine. "She'd be the one to help you with that magic wumbo jumbo" "An' we came here lookin' for answers. All of us were poofed here outta the blue." "I found your notes, notes about transporting to a location you never been. Where were you going?" Ravaphine asks the rod, wondering why she was speaking to an inanimate object. "What do we have to do to go back home? We just want to go back home, but we are here." "I was trying to jump through the dimensional barrier to a plane parallel to this one." "This place was on fire! We saved you technically, uhh Rod? What can we call you?" Nera holds up the rod and looks at it questioningly. "My name is Jebeddo Filchbatter Ku Ponivindel Boddynock Oneshoe Ningel, but you can call me Poni. And, well, to get home, you'll have to help me fix my Quantum Riftshift Slipstream Teletransmitter. You say it 'poofed' you here? Ugh, couldn't have brought me competent arcanists who know the terminology, could it?" "I ain't no wizard. I've better things t' do than pore over tomes all day," Urrak growls. "But I'm sure someone 'ere can help ye." "I'm no wizard either, but we really did just appear here. I went dizzy for a spell and suddenly I was in this unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers" "Well, I don't have all my materials at hand, but I suppose I can make do..." the dragonborn, ignoring the people around him, begins reciting something of a requiem for the deceased, hands clasped a few inches above the body. Lots of references to the moon lighting his path and stars pointing the way and such. "I'm not dead, you fool. I'm right here." "You look pretty dead to me, Poni." Nera waves the rod around. The dragonborn blinks an eye open, mid-recitation. "One thing at a time, friend. Allow me to guide your earthly body on its journey elsewhere." Ravaphine grabs the rod from Nera, "We can fix it, but you need to tell us what caused the previous rods to blow up. And watch it, orc, or else I'll send you over to the next dimension" Ravaphine says as she pokes Urrak in the chest with the rod. Nera snatches the rod back from Ravaphine. "I thought you didn't want to hold it" "Gentle! Please!" "The old problems were fixed. I won't know what caused this one until we put it back togeth-- do you feel that? That kind of fuzzy feeling? Like skin crawling or nausea? Well... if I still had skin or a stomach. Oh no... no no no... The explosion… it destabilized the envirochronic resonance architecture. We’ll have to fix the Quantum Riftshift Slipstream Teletransmitter so we can stabilize the area again. Otherwise, who knows what will happen!” Urrak rolls her eyes, "An' how do we set upon doing that, ya phantom?" "First we have to find the components. Oy, lift me up a bit, will you?" Nera holds the rod over her head (a whole four feet in the air) with a frown. "What are the components?" "Afraid that's as tall as she gets." Urrak jokes. "Did you all clean up in here? Where are the pieces?" "We've only touched the platform 'ere, and a few books." "We did also put out the fire. So we technically cleaned up a little." Nera’s struggling to keep Poni up in the air. A thought occurs to Ravaphine and she asks, "Poni, is your teletransmitter able to accommodate the mass of multiple people." "It should be able to, yes. Ugh. This is terrible. The pieces must have gone through the Quantum Riftshift Slipstream Teletransmitter. We’ll have to go get them. You'll all have to help me. I don't exactly have hands anymore." "Sounds like a hell of a scavenger hunt...Can y' tell where they are?" Urrak asks. A couple lights on the rod seem to flash a bit. "Oh! Well... that's convenient. Now that I am the rod, I can understand it better. Yes, I can find them... or at least come close. And I can just direct the Quantum Riftshift Slipstream Teletransmitter where I want it to go without worrying about... hmmm... ok, let's try this. When you want to use the Quantum Riftshift Slipstream Teletransmitter, you push the button." "Well, Half-pint? I say give it a go." "WAIT! Not yet, you impatient cabbage. There’s rules." "This is why I took the rod from the orc." "A'course, it's never easy...well what kind rules might there be?" "Anyone who wants to be teleported has to be connected to me through touch. Touch each other. Don’t touch me. Your hands are filthy. That goes both ways. You push the button to come back here and someone’s not touching? They’ll be trapped there. Well… until they 'port back home. I wonder if that works. Hmm. Would they 'port home or here? Would they 'port at all? Anyone want to try an experiment? You might be trapped forever, but knowledge is its own reward! Right! Anyway, hold on to one another and push the button and I’ll take you to where the archway is. We find it, pop back here, put the Quantum Riftshift Slipstream Teletransmitter back together and…. Well, I’ll figure it out from there. All understood? Nod your heads if you understand. I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.” Urrak nods and crouches to put a hand on Nera's head. She mumbles to herself " 'S like an apple...so small..." "Gerroff!" Nera grumbles. "Not my head you..." she curses under her breath. The dragonborn stands, brushing nonexistent dust from his chain mail, and gives a firm nod. "I don't know what all this is but, knowledge is its own reward..." "And you are sure this...teleporting will not combine our body particles and we will stay separated during transport?" Ravaphine asks before reaching out towards the group with hesitation. "Should be fine. Let's try this out. Ready when you are! Push the button, then put me through the archway." The man with the lute looks around and says, "This looks like the beginning to an interesting story. Think I'll tag along too." He puts his hand on the dragonborn's shoulder. "Is everybody ready?" Nera asks. "Aye! Lets!" "Oh sweet mama moonbow, here we go," Ravaphine crouches and puts her hands on Nera's shoulder. The dragonborn grasps Urrak’s shoulder in his dragon-y hand, mindful of his claws. "Oh gods, please let me not die," Nera mutters. She flips open the protective cover, closes her eyes, and pushes the button. The space above the base fizzles to life. There's a sort of wild energy around the edges, but it is roughly the shape of the archway seared into the wall behind it. Through the portal an image of a forest appears. "Now you should be able to just send me through and the rest of you will follow. But make sure you hold onto me!" Nera holds onto the rod for dear life, gripping with both hands. "You don't need to hold so tight. Just stick out your hand and put me through the portal." "Take my hand, Nera. Everyone, take each other's hand...or dragon claw and make sure to not let go as you're walking through the portal." "Okay, okay! Yeesh, I've never intentionally traveled dimensions before, don't blame me for being nervous." She takes a deep breath and sticks her hand through the portal. As soon as Poni passes through the plane of the portal, their surroundings instantly shift . They’re now standing in the forest, on an overgrown path that shows signs it was once a road, it curves around trees, no more than a hundred feet visible in either direction. “Alright now. Look for the archway. It’s shiny. Shouldn’t be too hard to spot in all this green, even for you.” They all take in their surroundings, but none see anything that could possibly resemble what Poni has them looking for. The dragonborn however, spots something else with his keen eyes. He kneels to graze a claw over the forest path. "Someone's been here...a lot of them, recently..." "Can ye tell what?" Urrak moves to his side, "Or...whom?" On her knees and looking between the bushes, Ravaphine notices soft soil, "There's a path, down here. Footprints." Nera stays back, keeping the rod safe. Urrak studies the footprints, “From the looks a these, seems like a big group of folks come through, had a scuffle, and ran off. No more'n 7 men I reckon, tho probably less. Hard to tell with them all jumbled like this, but it looks like they went south. What say ye? Seems t' me we should follow." The dragonborn glances around, then nods. "No better option than to pursue them, it seems..." Nera sighs and grumbles "Fine, I guess we have no other choice." Ravaphine, optimistic, says, "Maybe they saw the pieces laying about!" As they follow the path to the south an elf pops into view next to Nera. "Who the fuck!?" The dragonborn taps a claw against his chin-scales. "Poni wasn't kidding about the popping in and out..." The lute carrying half-elf speaks up, "Does this happen often?" "Too often, friend," Urrak replies, already fed up with all the teleporting. "Might we ask your name, stranger?" "Me? Beiro... or that one? I don't know that one," the bard answers "S'pose both a you… Too many elves t'keep track of..." Urrak mumbles to herself. "And you? You look the heroic sort. Think you might be the star of the song I'll write. What's the name, beautiful?" "Urrak. Of the D'Akshi stronghold." Beiro nods. "Urrak. I can rhyme with that. And the rest of you?" The new elf brushes himself off, "My name be my own business till i'm certain of yours." he says, wary of those around him. "Nera. And this rod I'm holding is Poni" "Ravaphine...we're all trying to get to the bottom of this." The dragonborn gives as much of a bow as he can when armored. "I am Dekar, faithful of Selune." "Ravaphine? That might be harder. We'll work on it though." Beiro replies and starts mumbling some lyrics under his breath about footprints and half-orc trackers. "Well at least now we've some entertainment on this wild goose chase..." Urrak replies. Impatient and annoyed with the group of idiots he’s surrounded by, Poni shouts, "CAN WE GET ON WITH IT?" Urrak sighs, "Come, the tracks continue south.” "Whoa hold up everyone," Nera says and stops in her tracks. "What d'you see, Nera?" Urrak stops behind her. Ravaphine stops as well, "This was a bad idea." Dekar stops and squints slightly. "Smoke." As they all look to where Nera and Dekar point out, they can see a bit of smoke rising over the trees in the direction of the road's curve. "No water buckets this time,” Ravaphine jokes. "Don't stand s'close and it won't be an issue," Urrak chuckles. Nera rolls her eyes at Urrak, "Do you think it's a fire or that the group we're tracking made camp somewhere?" "Smoke's too thin to be a bonfire. Perhaps a camp," the new elf answers. "Or a distress signal," Ravaphine offers. "Only one way t'find out." "I'll go see what's going on." Nera states. Urrak goes to pat her on the head, "Godspeed, small fry." Nera ducks and walks ahead, "Thanks, big fry" “Lay low...well I guess you already are," Ravaphine says as Nera practically melts into the shadows at the edge of the clearing and moves forward. Urrak laughs, despite herself. "One brave critter, that one." "I hope she's okay." "Aye, she'll be fine. Y'don't survive with a mouth like hers without bein' strong and quick. In the meantime, we wait.” Urrak looks off to the side, her ears picking up a rustle in the bushes, “But somethin' tells me not to let our guards down." She pulls her greatsword from its sheath and readies it. Urrak turns to the bushes, both hands gripping her sword tightly. Moments later a bird takes flight from the bushes. "Does that something warrant a search of the immediate area? Or do we just act like stupid ground animals and eagerly drop our paws into the trap?" the elf asks. Dekar quietly watches the bird while pulling his shield, adorned with the symbol of Selune, from his back. The elf draws his shortbow and knocks and arrow. "Ok guys I'm back!" Nera greets, popping out next to them. "Nine hells! Y'scared us!" "Good." The elf yawns, "Speak for yourself, I was bored." "Enough of this, what did you see, Nera?" "So there's a camp over there. About five guys around a fire, and another person who looked more like a prisoner. Bag over their head, shackled, the whole enchilada. Wait, do you guys know what enchiladas are? ANYWAY, it looked like they might have the component we're looking for. Couldn't quite figure out what it was." “Well alright then. No more standin' around." Urrak makes to move towards the camp. "WAIT!" Nera whispers harshly. I also spotted a bear trap guarding their camp, so we have to be careful about how we approach this!" Dekar steps forward, "A prisoner? Well, we must help them by any means." "Can y'use yer little hands to disarm it?" "It'd be a shame if you lot were unprepared for traps," the elf says, and shrugs the bow to his back. "Too bad no one else thought to bring tools to disarm such devices." "I don't know how to disarm bear traps! I know how to avoid them." "Well I agree with the Dragonborn, ain't no man should be another's prisoner." "I think we should try to ambush them. They don't know we're here, so we can take them by surprise." Nera suggests. "Now there's a plan I can get behind!" Urrak says, excitedly. "Nera, what of their numbers? How were they armed? Were they alert or at ease at the end of the day?" the elf asks. "They were all armored, in leather," Nera mutters. She closes her eyes, trying to visualize the campsite. "I think there were some crossbows and scimitars, but I don't remember how many or who had them." Dekar looks a little forlorn. "I wouldn't be much use in stealthy maneuvers, I'm afraid. Not the...most nimble of foot." "You said that there were five men? There are five us, but one of us has to secure the component and the prisoner." Ravaphine says."Five? There's six of us, dear lady." Beiro reminds Ravaphine. She waves him off muttering something about him being useless. "You n' me dragonborn, we can go in and distract 'em, and then the others can come in all stealthy-like. We can make as much noise as need be, and the rest of ye can disarm 'em" "I strive never to agree with an orc on any level, but she's dangerously close to talking sense," the elf nods to Urrak. "Urrak, do you think you could step lightly enough to come at them from the south? We'll push in from the north and hit them when they're not looking." "Anythin's worth tryin'" Dekar suddenly disappears. "Ah well...I suppose I can make enough noise for the two of us." Ravaphine stumbles back a bit, "I've seen many types of magic but this is one kind I will never be used to." "Well that will make things harder. No worries! I'll give us a little ditty to help us along." Beiro sings, "Urrak, the giant Urrak, strong as a rock... she'll really clean your clock..." He's not very good... but Urrak feels a rush of inspiration and moves to begin her assault from the south. "Let's get that component!" she says. "Aye," Nera nods, ready to sneak up on the enemy. "Right then." The elf again draws his bow. Urrak is too excited to notice the trees surrounding the camp are very close together, making a decent wall to block off most people. Nera draws her rapier, “Okay, so I'll sneak up from behind, Urrak can distract from the front (but don't engage), and we'll both attack, and everyone can join in. Just step over the bear trap and distract them until I have a chance to attack" "Aye, let's do this" Nera heads off to the north end of the camp, the occupants too invested in their revelry to notice. Nera steps into the clearing a bit, still hidden behind the tent, and grabs an arrow from her quiver. She nocks it on her shortbow, aims at the closest man, and fires. Her arrow streaks out from behind the tent and straight into the back of the man's neck. He slumps over, instantly killed by the severing of his spine. Urrak runs full force at the trap and tries to leap over it. She trips but manages to avoid triggering the trap with a last second hop. She roars at the top of her lungs at the men, sword drawn. It’s enough to shock them and let Nera retreat back into the trees to hide, breathing a silent sigh of relief. The closest one to Urrak tries to back away but trips and falls. Another human looks at the orc and at their dead friend and looks like he might run, but he'd have to run PAST the orc, so he decides to run behind the boxes to the east and fires his crossbow at Urrak. However, in his haste to back up, his shot whizzes right by her ear without connecting. Two others stand and draw their scimitars, the metal scraping against their leather armor. Ravaphine readies herself to jump over the bear trap and a bolt of fire leaps from her hands towards the man that had fallen earlier as she lands. It slams into his chest and he cries out in pain. The elf, Martyn, triggers the bear trap by dropping an arrow on it, then runs inside the circle of trees. He draws his bowstring back, taking aim at one of the standing men and shoots at him. The arrow thunks into the spot not covered by his armor and the man staggers. Urrak runs at the man Martyn shot and swings her greatsword at him, her sword cleaving his arm off and burying itself in his chest. He crumples to the ground like a bleeding sack of potatoes. Beiro enters the clearing and he starts insulting the guy hiding behind the boxes. "You coward! Your mother would be ashamed of you sitting back there hiding behind those boxes! You lily-livered asshole. You couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with that thing!" The man behind the boxes grabs his head in pain as if the insults are actually hurting him. Nera creeps out of the shadows again and fires an arrow at the man standing next to her first kill. It flies out of the shadows and plunks right into his back. He yells in pain, but is still standing. He turns towards her, and runs at her with his sword. The one who had fallen, gets up and starts to try and run, and the one behind the boxes fires another bolt at Urrak but misses, still reeling from the insults. Ravaphine approaches the man with an arrow in his back, and tosses another bolt of fire at him, hoping to draw his attention away from Nera. Martyn assists, shooting another arrow that catches him right between the ribs, causing him to fall, dead. Urrak rushes the guy trying to run and pins him to the ground with her sword. Beiro enters the clearing and sings a small song for Ravaphine, the same rush of inspiration flowing through her as it had Urrak earlier. Nera runs past the guy who was arrowed to death and grabs the arrow she stuck into him and shoots it at the man hiding, the arrow slamming into his shoulder. Not wanting to deal with the half-orc he turns towards Nera and tries to shoot her, but the pain in his shoulder causes his shot to fly over her head. Ravaphine sprints towards and jumps on the crates to the last man, and swings at him with her quarterstaff, but she stumbles slightly on the boxes and slams her staff into the barrel next to him. Martyn crosses the clearing behind Ravaphine and shoots an arrow at the man, but it sails wide, his focus too much on trying to avoid hitting Ravaphine. Urrak shakes her head and saunters up the the guy, swinging her sword down on top of him, his blood splattering across the barrels and Ravaphine’s boots. Urrak raises her sword above her head and lets out a loud victorious roar "These were my only pair of shoes..." Urrak smacks Ravaphine on the back lightly, "They're true warrior's boots now!" Unbeknownst to Ravaphine she leaves a slight bloody handprint on her back. Next